Gilchrist, doctors and lawmakers talk threats to IVF care

Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, alongside doctors, lawmakers and other stakeholders spoke at a Monday roundtable discussion about reproductive health care and the recent national debate over access to in vitro fertilization (IVF).

With the recent ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court identifying fertilized embryos outside the womb as “children” which immediately led to halting in IVF care throughout the state, access to IVF care nationally has been called into question. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill extending civil and criminal immunity to IVF clinics, but questions still remain about whether the measure is sufficient protection for providers.

Regardless, Michigan will not go untouched in this debate, Gilchrist said during the East Lansing event.

In 2022, Michigan had the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” for “every individual” added to the state constitution after voters approved the right to an abortion and other forms of reproductive health care in Proposal 3.

But Gilchrist, a Democrat, said efforts like the lawsuit Right to Life of Michigan has filed to throw out Proposal 3 is a part of a larger fight. What’s at stake is the various ways Michigan residents grow their families, including IVF.

“This lawsuit from Right to Life, it will end the practice of IVF in Michigan. It is an incredibly dangerous thing. The governor [Gretchen Whitmer] and I absolutely reject that,” Gilchrist said, adding that efforts from conservatives to take rights away from women and families are “disgusting.”

Right to Life’s lawsuit doesn’t directly mention IVF, but Gilchrist and other stakeholders at the roundtable Monday said tossing out the constitutional right to reproductive health care opens the door to attacks on IVF.

In February, Whitmer released a statement following the Alabama decision saying, “Every American deserves the ability to make their own decisions about their own body and start a family when they are ready. However, last Friday’s ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court, the recent lawsuit by Right to Life Michigan, and bills introduced in state legislatures across the nation put IVF, which allows millions of Americans to have children every year, at risk.”

Right to Life of Michigan hasn’t formally made a statement about the Alabama decision.Legislative Director Genevieve Marnon said claims that the lawsuit endangers IVF is a political fantasy made up by Democrats to mobilize their base. 

“IVF clinics have been operating in Michigan for decades without issue. Proposal 3 did not legalize IVF as it was already legal, and there was not, nor is there now, any risk that IVF clinics will be shut or impacted by any phantom legislation,” Marnon said. “There simply is no threat to IVF in our state. The idea that it is somehow at risk is an election year fantasy dreamed up by the Democrats to motivate their base. It is a complete fantasy and, frankly, shameful.”

Previous sentiments on Right to Life of Michigan’s Facebook page voice disapproval for IVF.

“The ethical concerns with IVF and surrogacy go far beyond the creation of designer children. Already over a million embryos, that is a over a million tiny human beings, have been destroyed while over a million remain frozen in storage today,” one post from 2022 reads.

Marnon said the group does not have a position on IVF. The group is concerned about what is currently allowed under Proposal 3. 

“What is actually at stake in Michigan are parental rights, which the Democrats have said they plan to go after, a woman’s right to know about risks related to an abortion [informed consent] now being challenged as unconstitutional under Proposal 3, and protections against using taxpayer money to pay for other people’s abortion,” Marnon said. “That is what is actually at play now, but the governor, lieutenant governor and Attorney General [Dana Nessel] don’t want to talk about that. They are peddling a fantasy to scare voters.”

State Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) had her daughter through IVF after going through her own infertility journey which included two miscarriages and said she said she can’t imagine if lawmakers had been able to prevent her from having her child. Tsernoglou described the lengthy, nerve-wracking and, at times, painful process of IVF and how grateful she is to be a mom after struggling with infertility.

“It’s kind of a lonely place when you’re going through that. You don’t really know who can relate to you. Or it turns out once you do start talking about it, there’s so many other people out there who are going through exactly what you’re going through and they really just hadn’t been talking about it,” Tsernoglou said.

It’s not just a woman’s issue, Tsernoglou added. It’s a family issue that impacts if people will be able to fulfill their dreams of becoming parents, but also how society talks about children born through IVF. 

“We don’t tell our daughter everything that’s happening but, she did kind of overhear and heard some of the things that were going on and she said to me, ‘Do people not want babies like me?’” Tsernoglou said, which elicited audible sounds of disturbance from Gilchrist and Rep. Samantha Steckloff (D-Farmington Hills).

Steckloff said she will soon be going through her own IVF journey, having gotten the greenlight last year to go off oral chemotherapy and carry her child after being diagnosed more than eight years ago with breast cancer at age 31.

“I just keep thinking at 40 years old … I am going through the next part of the process right now and to live in Alabama, and then have this whole process suddenly halt. I can’t imagine what these families are going through in Alabama because every moment counts when you get to a certain age,” Steckloff said. “I have to go back on a chemo when I’m done delivering so every moment counts for my personal health and safety.”

Stories like Steckloff’s and Tsernoglou’s are important in putting a face to the issue of fertility, which society doesn’t always talk about, Gilchrist said. Lawmakers will have to have hard conversations with individuals who have gone through grueling infertility treatments, some of which were not successful, and justify not backing IVF care or surrogacy access.

‘When the time comes to make a choice about being able to have a family or not to grow a family … that is not a political choice for any individual,” Gilchrist said. “I do believe that it will be highly motivating when we make it clear that Republicans are hellbent on reducing the ability for people in Michigan to choose how to make a family.”

There isn’t a unified GOP position on IVF. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the matter should be up to states. Last month, Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked a Democratic bill preserving the right to IVF.

Many Republicans are aware that opposing IVF is not popular with voters, as shown in a February memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Executive Director Jason Thielman to Republican Senate candidates which outlined instructions to support IVF.

“When responding to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, it is imperative that our candidates align with the public’s overwhelming support of IVF and fertility treatments,” the memo reads.